Cass Lake Times - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - 3

with an AD in theCelebrate a Special Occasion

218-335-2290 • cltimes@arvig.net

Cass Lake Times

The Chippewa Triathlon would like to thank the

agencies, organizations, sponsors and volunteers who helped make the 20th annual Triathlon a success. Without your help and support this

event would not be possible.Thank you!

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Ladies, are you a survi-vor of domestic violence/sexual assault? Do you have a family member who is a survivor? Come join us Monday evenings at IHS in the S1 building for a talking circle as we complete the red solidarity shawls. When they are completed, these shawls will be worn by sur-vivors or family members of survivors at different lo-

cations, as part of the heal-ing process. The shawls are very sacred and symbolic to the Native people, and the fringe represents the tears of our women from the dif-ferent types of violence they’ve endured.

Studies have shown when our hands are busy, we talk more. What happens when we talk more? We start healing!

You are welcome to come anytime between 3:00-7:00pm each Monday with a light supper to be served. No special sewing talent re-quired! No Childcare avail-able. Please RSVP by call-ing the number below for more information: Faye or Pat at 335-3560

Solidarity Shawl Project for the Leech Lake Area

Rider ������������������������������������������� continued from Front

Bernice Ende rode her horse Montana Spirit while Essie Pearl carried the majority of the packs across the MiGiZi trail bridge in Cass Lake on Thursday, June 25. Photo by Allan Olson.

now makes her home in Mon-tana. She dedicates her rides to her mother, “who taught us that there is so much more out there; she brought culture into our dirt poor family – mu-sic, theater, art, train rides... but most importantly, curios-ity. My father gave me a lot, as well. He was a good man, but all he knew how to do was work. He taught me that hard work is not something to be afraid of. I don’t think that without the farm background I would have the ability to do this ride. Just like farm-ing, there’s a lot of repetition. Day in and day out, constantly doing the same thing as you did the day before.” She also credits her 25 years as a dance academy instructor for pro-viding her stamina and condi-tioning on her journeys.

Bernice carries a degree as a Fitness Specialist, rather than in wildlife or another outdoor science, like one might expect of someone go-ing on a journey like this.

As she was drying out her gear from a flash rain shower the night before on the Mi-GiZi Trail, she recalled that when she started out on her first ride, “I cried for a week. I thought, what am I doing?”

Now she covers approxi-mately 35 miles every day, depending on the time of the year and the weather. Prior to the heat of the summer, she was hitting the saddle at about 6 a.m.; now, to avoid the peak heat hours, “I’m up at 3 a.m. and on the trail to avoid rid-ing and walking during the high heat of the day.” Bernice said she travels with no cell phone and no GPS, and relies on her DeLorme Gazeteer At-las, along with any trail maps that might be available along the way.

“I really don’t know exactly why I decided to do this, I’ve ridden and trained horses all my life, but I had never done

anything like this,” Bernice said. “When I started, I fig-ured I had ridden into a night-mare. At first I was terrified, but all these years later, I have learned a lot about myself. I have cleansed my soul.”

Her horses – Essie Pearl, a 12-year old Fjord Mare, and Montana Spirit, a 5-year old Fjord/Percheron Mare, are steady steeds, but every 2-3 hours the panyards and saddles all come off to allow them an opportunity to rest and graze on the “cornucopia of grasses available to them along the trail,” Bernice said. “I use that time to forage on berries.”

One of the horses carries about 75 pounds in equipment – much lighter than the win-ter load – while the other car-ries Bernice and some more goods/supplies. The horses wear fly masks nearly all the time, and are also shod on the trail by Bernice. Essie Pearl has been on the trail with Ber-nice since 2008, and Montana Spirit has traveled with her for the last four years.

Supplies are sent to her in care of General Delivery at local post offices, as needed. Communication is done via Internet at public libraries, and she had her own portable computer to use at the library or other wi-fi hot spot, but it recently failed on her so she is relying on public computers.

Since Bernice started these adventures 11 years ago, she has given numerous public interviews and gained many followers who say they wish they were riding with her and are riding vicariously through her, she said. “I am really surprised by the amount of interviews I’ve done,” she said. “I thought most people would think that I’m nuts and would laugh at me, but I have been on the front page of sev-eral newspapers in Michigan, and I did 30 interviews in

New York.” In addition, she now also has sponsors who help supply equipment for her horses and herself, including saddles, masks and shoes for the horses, and one sponsor even gave her the horse, Mon-tana Spirit.

Here’s her latest blog entry, posted from Thief River Falls on July 2: “Riding is hard. The heat, the mosquitoes, the wood ticks, humidity all adds up and I find myself losing perspec-tive. I have said many times, “fatigue is my greatest enemy.” The horses are holding up bet-ter than I. We are packed light. Essie carries only 75/80 pd. Spirit has the weight of me and extra gear so that adds up but I walk at least 10 miles a day so am not on her back as much as you would think. I must be up by 3 a.m. and in the saddle by 5 a.m. I am trotting the horses in the early morning, as the sunrises we are chased by a red ball of heat until we give in and find shade all afternoon. My bags carry dandelion greens, nettles, lambs- quar-ters for my evening meals.”

Probably the hardest part of the journey is to learn to swal-low one’s pride and ask for help, to riding up to a stranger’s home and ask them for assis-tance. Bernice explained one such incident, back when her dog traveled with her, and she decided to take her boots off in the tall grasses. “I looked for hours and couldn’t find them, and I had to ride to a stranger’s home and ask if they had an old pair of shoes or boots that I could borrow. An incident like this really teaches humility, and everyone I’ve ever met has shown me nothing but kind-ness, and I’m grateful to all of them.”

As for future rides, she said, “I don’t think too much about them until I finish my current ride, but I really would like to do some riding in Europe – so we will see what the future holds.”

If you would like to learn more about Bernice’s journeys, you can visit: www.endofthet-rail.com.

Calling all local young la-dies, you are being sought after as contestants to run for Miss Cass Lake and Little Miss Cass Lake during the annual Cass Lake Chamber of Commerce Summer Fest event, July 23-25, 2015. If you are interested in being a con-testant, please contact Terri Vail at (218) 308-4959.Miss Cass Lake Pageant Rules:

The deadline for entering is July 17 and all candidates must live year around in the Cass Lake-Bena area or at-tend Cass Lake-Bena School. All candidates must be 16- 19 years of age, single and re-main so, must not get married or have been married or have had no/or expecting children.

The Official Cass Lake Royalty will consist of two representatives.

Candidates must have a sponsor/s and the sponsor fee is $50.00. The fees need to be paid by July 17.Little Miss Cass LakePageant Rules:

The deadline for all the lit-tle ladies out their interested in becoming a Little Miss

Looking for Miss Cass Lake and Little Miss contestants

Cass Lake is noon on July 22. All Candidates must live year around in the Cass Lake area or attend Cass Lake-Bena School.

The young candidates must be 4 -7 years of age. A $10.00 fee is required to help cover expenses. Applications can be picked up at the Cass Lake Fire Department between July 15 and July 22.

The official Little Miss Cass Lake Royalty will con-sist of one name drawn from a fish bowl. All participants are encouraged to dress in sum-mer attire.

For more information please contact: Co-Pageant Chairpersons Terri Vail.

The Beltrami County His-torical Society’s new exhibit, Good Sports of the North, kicks off with an opening re-ception on Thursday, July 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the Beltrami County History Center, 130 Minnesota Ave SW, Bemidji!

Get in the game and ex-plore the history of sports in Beltrami County. Score big with stories about curling, baseball, Ojibwe lacrosse, cross country skiing, and the many sports in between. Go behind the numbers, and find out how sports moments, coaches, and personalities shaped local communities. And be part of the team with hands-on vintage sports equipment, interactive touch-screens, and more! Opening reception includes refresh-ments and is FREE to the pub-lic. Good Sports of the North runs through Summer 2016 and admission fees apply at other times during regular open hours, Wednesday-Sat-urday from 12-4 p.m. The ex-hibit is made possible through a grant from the George W. Neilson Foundation and do-nations from Kent Wilson and Carol Wilson. It is spon-sored by Amity Graphics, the Bemidji Pioneer, and Paul Bu-nyan Broadcasting.

Good Sports of the North Exhibit

First Call for Help-211

Are you or someone you know experiencing a mental health crisis? Looking for a support group for someone going through a divorce? Or maybe you just need some-one to listen to your problem and help you come up with some options for dealing with whatever the issue may be. First Call 2-1-1 offers non-judgmental, active listening, connections to emergency mental health services and re-ferrals to many area support groups as well as information on a wide variety of other ser-vices and agencies. We are open for calls 24 hours a day and can be reached by dial-ing (218) 326-8565 or in Cass County dial 1-800-442-8565 or 2-1-1.

Motorists traveling through the Highway 2 and Highway 89 intersection near Bemidji will encounter a partial detour on Highway 89 beginning Monday, July 6 as the Highway 2 median is closed to traffic.

The partial detour in-cludes all southbound High-way 89 traffic and east-bound Highway 2 motorists intending to drive north on Highway 89. Those motor-ists will be detoured on Beltrami County Road 515/Scribner Road NW. The detour will remain through the duration of the proj-ect, which is expected to be complete in October, weather permitting.

The detour will not af-fect motorists on west-bound Highway 2 until the full closure of Highway 89, which is expected to take place in mid-August.

Highway 2 is currently reduced to single lane traf-fic in both the eastbound and westbound lanes and a two-day detour is planned prior to the Highway 89 closure in mid-august to al-low for the setting of bridge beams.

Residents and business owners are encouraged to attend an open house Thurs-

day, July 9 to get an update on the project and have questions answered directly from contractor represen-tatives, MnDOT staff and other project officials.

The informal open house begins at 6 p.m. in room 151 at the Bemidji MnDOT building, 3920 Highway 2 West.

The intersection recon-struction project will result in a safer intersection with improved turning lanes, in-tersection lighting, and an overpass for motorists on Highway 89 to access the eastbound lanes of High-way 2.

MnDOT urges motor-ists to follow these recom-mendations in work zones: stay alert; watch for signs, equipment and workers; minimize distractions, such as using cell phones, eating or drinking; avoid tailgat-ing; follow posted speed limits and directional signs; and stay in one lane while driving through a work zone

Learn more about Min-nesota’s investment in and maintenance of the state’s transportation system at MnDOT’s Get Connected sitewww.dot.state.mn.us/getconnected/.

Partial detour of Highway 89 near Bemidji begins July 6

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